48 THE MAN-LIKE APES. i 



go on growing, though slowly, and that they live to 

 forty or fifty years. The Dyaks tell of old Orangs, 

 which have not only lost all their teeth, but which 

 find it so troublesome to climb, that they maintain 

 themselves on windfalls and juicy herbage. 



The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that 

 marvellous activity characteristic of the Gibbons. 

 Hunger alone seems to stir him to exertion, and 

 when it is stilled, he relapses into repose. When 

 the animal sits, it curves its back and bows its 

 head, so as to look straight down on the ground; 

 sometimes it holds on with its hands by a higher 

 branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically 

 down by its side — and in these positions the 

 Orang will remain, for hours together, in the same 

 spot, almost without stirring, and only now and 

 then giving utterance to his deep, growling voice. 

 By day he usually climbs from one tree-top to 

 another, and only at night descends to the ground, 

 and if then threatened with danger, he seeks 

 refuge among the underwood. When not hunted, 

 he remains a long time in the same locality, and 

 sometimes stops for many days on the same tree 

 — a firm place among its branches serving him for 

 a bed. It is rare for the Orang to pass the night 

 in the summit of a large tree, probably because it 

 is too windy and cold there for him; but, as soon 

 as night draws on, he descends from the height 

 and seeks out a fit bed in the lower and darker 

 part, or in the leafy top of a small tree, among 



